Oh please. My point was not demeaning to anything. It was simply a fact. For example: "Lots of people die in car crashes." Is the statement of that fact (and the statement that car driving is dangerous) "demeaning" to people who drive cars? I think not.
You said that "I do know that roughly half the people who I personally have known in my life who regularly pilot private small planes have died in plane crashes."
That's anecdotal, and since you also admitted that you "know virtually nothing about piloting planes", then it's a worthless statement. You admit up front that you know nothing.
I wouldn't regularly fly small planes as an amatuer in a million years.
That's demeaning to a lot of us who have wrapped up most of our lives in flying. You're in essence calling us "wrong headed daredevils", and specifically calling Crossfield an "amatuer", which is a direct insult to the man.
If you're a good conservative, how did you feel on the day Ronald Reagan died? Your comment about Crossfield is equivalent to saying when hearing of his death "I don't know anything about politics, but I think Reagan was just a lousy actor".
Crossfield was one of a very few genuine aviation greats. And to those of us who love aviation your comments were out of line and disrespectful on the day he died.